India vs Australia: Pujara And Gill Steady Ship After Rohit’s Early Loss, India 83/1 At Lunch In Brisbane

Brisbane test nicely poised at lunch on Day 5. India lose first wicket early, but Gill and Pujara steady the forces to battle out the remaining two sessions at the Gabba. India require another 245 runs to win with nine wickets in hand. Will India go for a win?

Day 5 of the fourth and final test match between India and Australia began on a soothing note for the home team. Pat Cummins bowled a teaser outside the off-stump that was going away from Rohit Sharma who eventually nicked it to get out cheaply for 7 in 21 balls.

India were 18/1 in the ninth over of the innings. Then in came the new ‘wall’ of Indian cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara. Pujara and Shubhman Gill together build up a partnership of 65 runs to take the score at 83/1 at the end of the first session on Day 5 of this test match.

Gill was batting at 64 while Pujara was quietly holding one end by scoring 8 runs in 90 balls. Gill tried to attack towards the end of the first session and ended up with a strike rate of 54.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That is Lunch on the final day of the Border-Gavaskar Test series. India are 83-1 with Gill on 64 and Pujara on 8. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#TeamIndia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvIND?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#AUSvIND</a> <br><br>1st session - 36.1 overs | 79 runs | 1 wicket <br>Details - <a href="https://t.co/OgU227P9dp" rel='nofollow'>https://t.co/OgU227P9dp</a> <a href="https://t.co/5aWLc07VC1" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/5aWLc07VC1</a></p>&mdash; BCCI (@BCCI) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/1351351881415606273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

The cracks on the pitch didn’t come into play as much as the Australian bowlers would have expected. Although, the short ball troubled Pujara for a brief time. He also got hit by a vicious short ball by Pat Cummins. Although no serious injuries were recorded. The Aussie bowlers looked good early on but failed to really trouble the two solid batsmen at the crease.

Looking at things, it appears that Ravi Shastri’s men have decided that their primary aim is to save the test match and not think about going for the glory. It would be interesting to look at the second session after lunch. 

At lunch, India needed 245 more runs to win with nine wickets in hand and a minimum of 62 overs to be bowled. If India look to win the match, they’d have to score with a run rate of 3.9 rpo.